In many industries, such as automotive manufacturing, components are formed using a transfer press. At a basic level, a transfer press comprises a press bed supporting one or more lower dies; a slide carrying one or more upper dies corresponding to the lower dies; and a crown for raising and lowering the slide relative to the press bed. Components are typically formed by positioning materials between the upper and lower dies and lowering the slide to press the material between the upper and lower dies, thus modifying the material between the dies according to the configuration of the dies. After the initial press, the component is transferred to an adjacent set of dies, and the process is repeated to further modify the component. This process is repeated until the component has been modified as desired.
Transfer presses are typically large, often over fifty feet tall. To accommodate these machines within reasonably sized manufacturing facilities, the transfer presses are generally assembled and operated in a pit extending below the floor level of the facility. Manufacturers of these presses often assemble the presses within similar pits at their own facilities to allow customers to view the press before purchasing it. The total time necessary to assemble the press is determined, in large measure, by the `pit time,` corresponding to the assembly occurring within the pit. Assembling components within the pit generally takes much longer than assembling at floor level because only one level of components may be assembled at a time.
Often, it is desirable to use a single large slide to service several work stations or sets of dies. Typically, a single large press bed will be used to support the sets of dies serviced by the single large slide. In addition, a large capacity crown is typically used to drive the large slide. A problem with this approach is that the large crowns and press beds used with the multi-station slide are too heavy to assemble outside of the pit. Assembly thus requires considerable pit time, which greatly increases the total assembly time of the press. Another problem with this approach is that the large components are often difficult to transport. In some countries, for example, government regulations prohibit railroad transportation of items over a set maximum weight. The large crowns and press beds used in this approach often exceed these weight limits, and cannot be transported in those countries. These large press beds and crowns also generally require the addition of extra hardware to facilitate handling the components during shipping. Still another problem with this approach is that large portions of the press bed between work stations go unused. This results in wasted materials and unnecessary excess weight.